Xbox has announced a partnership with Inworld AI, a company that specializes in creating artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for gaming and entertainment. The partnership aims to create an AI toolset and an AI character runtime engine that will help game developers with various aspects of game design and development.

According to a report: The AI toolset, also called an AI design copilot, is designed to assist game designers in generating creative ideas for dialogue trees, quests, and scripts, using prompts and natural language processing.

The toolset can be used in the pre-production phase of game development, when the game’s world, story, and mechanics are being defined. The toolset can also reduce the time and resource constraints during production, allowing games to be released faster and to be more expansive and immersive.

The AI character runtime engine, on the other hand, is designed to make non-player characters (NPCs) more realistic and adaptive, by using multiple AI models to deliver dynamic responses to the players’ actions. The responses can include dialogue, expressions, actions, and gestures, creating a sense of agency and engagement for the players.

Haiyan Zhang, the general manager of gaming AI at Xbox, said that the partnership with Inworld AI is part of Xbox’s vision to make game development more accessible and diverse.

She said: “We want to help make it easier for developers to realize their visions, try new things, push the boundaries of gaming today, and experiment to improve gameplay, player connection and more.” She added that the tools are intended for game developers of any size, anywhere in the world, and on every platform where players want to play.

The partnership between Xbox and Inworld AI comes at a time when the use of AI in game development is becoming more prevalent and controversial.

Some voice actors have expressed concerns about the use of AI to impersonate their voices, and the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) has voted to authorize a strike against video game companies over AI-related issues. However, it is unclear how the strike will affect the game industry and the use of AI tools.

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